Chemo Brain - Experiences? Ideas?

I've had some instances but I never wavered on my children's allergies and kept up with their school stuff. They are my priority. 

 I do a lot of post it notes, try to pay bills with no children around, even put alarms on my phone. Not sure how much was chemo or is just plain fatigue. 

I'm not currently working. Didn't want to take away from my children. 

Not sure how helpful that is. 

I was lucky and able to work all the way through chemo. My job entails lots of math and analysis so I was worried about being able to think straight enough to do my job well. I won't lie, my brain did get "fuzzy" and my short term memory was shot (still is 4 months pfc ) but I was able to maintain my work load - without making a lot of mistakes! I did have to go over the math several times to insure the results were correct but I haven't had any of my clients, bank reviewers, come back with any concerns....so I must of done OK!

my chemo brain experiences mostly involved routine and instinctual things. Like turning in the shower then stepping in with my underwear on, silly but true. Or doing things out of normal order, like putting shampoo in my hair first before shaving my legs, which I have done for a couple of decades.  One day I couldn't think of my work zip code for the life of me. But as far as work went, I was always able to focus and make quick decisions, write sensible emails and complete reports. It actually seemed like on the days that work would be impossibly busy, that I would perform best and forget about treatment and SEs. The fatigue was far worse on my brain than the chemo though, I am sure. And the irritability is a factor too. My team has learned not to bother me too much on treatment days, because I become very blunt with them. We have named it "chemo rage". Good luck to you with whatever you decide is best. If you can, try it out before making a decision one way or another. Many of my cycles resulted in different outcomes and taxol was a lot easier to function through than AC. 

Hi paloverde,

I did ddAC + ddT. My job requires logical thinking (software designer) and lots of computer work. I had a really tough time with the ddAC portion of the regimen and had to go out on medical leave, I think mainly because I didn't get enough sleep/rest (if lucky about 4 hours a day). Once I stopped working and started taking meds to help me sleep life improved and I thought I could go back to work during the Taxol portion, but my MO wanted me to stay out, so I did. I had issues related to concentration, couldn't remember words when communicating with others, forgot things easily, got irritable because I knew I was wasn't communicating like I should be. What I think helped me was playing lots of brain games, even if I lost or they took my longer to do (scrabble, suduko, chess, etc...), reading (even if I had to take notes to remember what I just read), keeping a journal, leaving post-its all over and setting my alarm so I would not forget things, and exercise/yoga. Things improved over time and when I went back to work I still wasn't back to where I was before but could function and produce good work, although it took me longer than before. Now I am 2.5 years out from finishing chemo and I don't see any impact on my work (and neither does my employer - good reviews). I still think I experience minor effects from chemo, but only my DH notices them now, then again maybe it is just because I am getting older and I just want to blame it on chemo brain.